This letter was written by @John_Henson on the 24th of January, 2017

Another day, another skirmish between Knicks twitter and a NY beat writer.

Last Sunday, @KnicksDude took exception to yet another negative article written by the NYDN’s @StefanBondy. Dude posted his criticisms on twitter, and sure enough, Bondy came after him hard. As often happens with NYDN writers, it quickly became personal, with Bondy stooping to the kind of homophobic slurs that get you fired in the workplace… and dropped in a bar.

Then, after it appeared to be over, Bondy challenged the Dude to a debate on his podcast… which Knick Dude gleefully accepted. It was on! Knicks twitter would finally have it’s day in court. This was the opportunity we’d been lusting for… a chance to hold a beat writer accountable for years of one-sided coverage.

But just like being 4 games above .500, it was too good to be true. By Monday morning, Bondy had backed out. He withdrew his invite without much explanation, but he seemed concerned about hostility. Ha! Are you kidding me?!?! A guy who earns his paycheck waiving red flags in front of bulls doesn’t want to risk being gored?

To die-hard Knicks fans, this was more than hypocrisy. This was outright cowardice.

Look, I want to be clear about something. I’m a Knicks fan to the bone. This team has been breaking my heart since 1985. That’s 32 years of my life spent on a sliding scale of agony, embarrassment and frustration. Sure, there have been highlights… most notably, the tough-as-nails teams of the 90’s that made the finals twice, only to lose. John Starks’ cold streak in game 7 against the Rockets is the Knicks’ equivalent of Scott Norwood’s “wide right.” Those Buffalo Bills teams were so damn good they made 4 consecutive Superbowls… but they couldn’t eek out a win when it mattered most. Likewise, the Knicks bruising defense tested the best the league had to offer… but they could never score enough win it all. Ironically, that era cemented my love of the Knicks. To me, those teams had B+ talent… but played with A+ intensity. They willed themselves to play beyond their limits through sheer determination.

They may have broken our hearts, but they gave it everything they had. That’s why it hurt so badly.

Starks’ futility from deep is hardly alone in terms of New York Knick nightmares. There was Charles Smith’s impotence under the basket, Reggie Miller’s 9 second scoring explosion and Patrick Ewing’s blown finger roll, among others. I’m still haunted by the somber image of Ewing sitting on the bench as we lost the ’99 finals. Watching him limp up and down the court on a partially torn Achilles… outplaying a younger, more athletic Alonzo Mourning… eliminating Pat Riley’s #1 seeded Miami on their home court… that performance embodied the tenacity of those Knicks teams. It was sad to see him on the sidelines against San Antonio, betrayed by a body he pushed past the limit in search of a ring. He came so close…only to come up empty. It hurts me to this day.

To be a Knicks fan in the last 45 years has required the courage to get your heart torn out and still come back for more. It’s an exercise in loyalty that many fans don’t have the stomach for. I wish I could’ve started rooting for the Shaq and Kobe Lakers when I moved to LA in 1995… but I’m not built like that. I’m loyal to a fault. That’s what makes me Knicks fan. Because guys like me know that when our time comes… all that suffering will have been worth while. We’ve watched fans of the Red Sox and Cubs finally cry tears of joy and thought…”that ain’t shit compared to how it’ll feel when the Knicks win their chip!” Hell, I almost wet my pants during Larry Johnson’s 4 point play. I might need a defibrillator when we hoist the Larry O’Brien trophy.

That’s why we get pissed when Knicks beat writers appear to relish finding the negative. Granted, this franchise has given them lots of ammunition over the years, embarrassing themselves on and off the court. But that’s not the whole story. There’s always an upside. A silver lining. A reason to keep hope alive. But based on their twitter feeds, Isola and Bondy think that enthusiasm makes us suckers. They mock our devotion and revel in the Knicks futility, taunting fans for daring to get our hopes up again. And when their work is criticized for being one sided, they accuse their readers of being delusional and hurl petty insults.

It’s become personal to the guys at the Daily News. When the Knicks lose, they win. So they search for negativity where none exists. They literally mine for it, interpreting every single development in the most malignant way possible. And at their worst, they actually succeed in CREATING adversity. Even when they recognize something positive they try to use it to sow discord. I’ve seen it. And if you’re bothering to read this, I’m sure you’ve seen it too.

I don’t expect sports writers to be cheerleaders, falsely praising an undeserving team. But that’s what Isola accused me of when I called him out. I got into it with him on twitter once (admittedly, a fight I had nothing to do with, but jumped into anyway,) and he tried to throw our record in my face. Like I don’t know how badly we suck??? Any idiot can look at the win/loss record and tell we’ve been getting punked on a regular for nearly 2 decades. Come on, man! New York fans are widely regarded as the “smartest basketball fans” in the league. Treat us like it!

Go a little deeper than the winning percentage and behind the scenes tabloid drama. Peel the onion and present a balanced analysis that recognizes our strengths as well as our weaknesses. Provide coverage that’s as detailed and comprehensive as our passion for the team! I’m tired of reading about Noah’s bad contract, Melo’s no trade clause and Phil’s mind games. That’s low hanging fruit. Yes, those are valid stories… but they’re not the ONLY stories! There IS upside here.

We have one of the all time great scorers in NBA history. A star player who actually WANTS to be a Knick, even though every day the media tries to run him out of town. We have a 7′ 3″ unicorn with the handles of a guard and a stroke like Ray Allen. We have contract flexibility, a ton of cap room, all our draft picks and some promising bench players like KOQ, Cheese, Hernan the Barbarian, Ron Burgundy and Just Holla. Hell, even “a Plumlee to be named later” has had some moments.

Any reporter worth his salt HAS to give time to the positives as well as the negatives. Otherwise, you’re just a glorified soap opera writer, concocting “Melo-drama” at the expense of your own credibility. And you can lose as much respect for being irrationally negative and you can for being irrationally positive.

“Then don’t read that crap,” the argument goes. “Just ignore it.”

Well, it ain’t that easy. The endless fountain of negativity surrounding the franchise pulls the team down. Don’t tell me it doesn’t. At its most destructive, bad press can create fissures between players and management, scare off potential free agents and turn a losing streak into a lost season. It costs people their jobs, gets players traded and affects the morale of the team and the fans. It’s like a low level infection that suppresses our ability to improve.

To say bad press doesn’t affect the on-court product is like saying man-made pollution can’t affect climate change. That’s just an excuse to justify poisoning our planet… and write malignant coverage of the Knicks. They’re not “telling it like it is.” New York fans are smarter than that! Those guys aren’t saying anything we don’t know already. They’re just singing the same tune over and over without balancing it out with more encouraging facts. Touching on the positive isn’t cheerleading… it’s a part of reporting the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Maybe that’s why they’re afraid. Maybe the fanbase rising up and rejecting their propaganda would be the downfall of their hustle. Maybe they’d be forced to dig a little deeper, put in some effort, and do their damn jobs.

If that’s not it, then why do they react so violently when challenged? Why do they act like bullies on the playground, getting personal and calling people names? Have you read the kind of vitriol Bondy has thrown at Tommy Dee and Knicks Dude lately? He’s deleted most of his twitter attacks since then… but they were out of line and offensive. Is that how you treat to your readers? Is that being professional? Is that what the Daily News wants from it’s writers… homophobic accusations and fighting words?

I have to assume some executive over there is reading his timeline and thinking… “Dammit, I’m going to have to do something about that!” Because sooner or later, one of them will go too far and get himself canned. Fans don’t deserve to be ridiculed for loving their team. That’s what the team is there for. To “root” means to encourage a team or contestant by cheering or applauding enthusiastically. To lend moral support. You got that??? TO LEND SUPPORT! That’s OUR job. And YOUR job as a sports writer is to cover the team for US, the fans… not to to pour salt in our wounds and attack people who call you out for it.

Knicks Dude, Tommy and myself don’t pretend to be “objective,” but so what? Who says we have to be? Are you objective about the things you love? We’re devoted seeing the Knicks win a championship. And when that time comes, we’ll reap the kind of unbridled joy that guys like Isola and Bondy will never feel… because they didn’t earn it. Until then, we’ve earned the right to be treated with respect.

Sure, maybe we’re looking through (Derrick) Rose colored glasses… but that doesn’t make us “delusional.” It makes us fans. And FANS are who beat writers are supposed to be catering to.

It’s easy to shit on the Knicks. But it takes strength to stick by them all these years. Maybe that’s why Bondy chickened out of a confrontation that HE SUGGESTED. Maybe he realized he can’t win this fight… and the Knicks won’t lose forever.

Bully up.

-John Henson